triumph

The name given in ancient Rome to the public honor bestowed on a general
who had been successful in war. It consisted of a solemn procession along
the Via Sacra up to the Capitol,
where sacrifice was offered to Jupiter. The victor stood in a chariot, drawn
by four horses – his captives marching before, his troops following
behind.

The ovation (from ovare, "to shout"), or lesser
triumph, differed from the greater chiefly in these respects, that the imperator
entered the city on foot, clad in the simple toga praetexta of
a magistrate, instead of the toga picta and the tunica palmata
of the more highly honored commander, that he bore no scepter, was not preceded
by the senate and a flourish of trumpets, nor followed by his victorious
troops, but only by the equites and the populace. The ovation was granted
when the success, though considerable, did not fulfill the conditions specified
for a triumph, or if the conqueror had not been in supreme command.